Sociology Ch. 5 S. 3: Agents of Socialization Obj: Identify the most important agents of socialization in the US; Explain why family and education are important social institutions.

The views of Locke, Cooley, and Mead provide theoretical explanations of the socialization process. This section examines some specific forces and situations that shape socialization. Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to describe the specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place. In the US, the primary agents of socialization include the family, the peer group, the school, and the mass media.

The Family The family is the most important agent of socialization in almost every society. Its primary importance rests in its role as the principal socializer of young children. Children first interact with others and first learn the values, norms, and beliefs of society through their families.

Socialization in a family setting can be both deliberate and unintended. Deliberate - teaching about telling the truth. Unintended – (can have greater impact) teaches child to tell the truth, child sees parent lying. “Do what I say, not what I do!” Practice what you preach! Whether deliberate or unintended, the socialization process differs from family to family, for all families are not the same. Thus, socialization produces a society of individuals who share in the patterns of the larger culture but who retain certain unique personality and behavior characteristics.

The Peer Group The family provides many, if not most, of the socialization experiences of early childhood. As children grow older, forces outside of the family increasingly influence them. In particular, children begin to relate more and more to their peer groups. A peer group is a primary group composed of individuals of roughly equal age and similar social characteristics.

Peer groups are particularly influential during the pre-teenage and early teenage years. Without peer acceptance, they are labeled as misfits, outsiders, or a similar disparaging term. To win this acceptance, young people willingly adopt the values and standards of the peer group. In essence, they shape themselves into the kind of person they think the group wants them to be.

Peer-group socialization is different from socialization within the family. The norms and values imparted by the family usually focus on the larger culture. However, in peer groups the focus is the subculture of the group. Peer-group goals are sometimes at odds with the goals of the larger society. Parents in particular become alarmed if they come to believe that the norms and values of the peer group are more important to their children than those of society as a whole.

The School For most young people, school occupies large amounts of time and attention. Between the ages of 5 and 18, young people spend some 30 weeks a year in school. Thus, the school plays a major role in socializing individuals.

Much of this socialization is deliberate Much of this socialization is deliberate. Class activities are planned for the deliberate purpose of teaching reading, etc. Extracurricular activities, such as school dances are intended to prepare the student for life in the larger society. Schools also attempt to transmit cultural values, such as patriotism, responsibility, and good citizenship. A large amount of unintentional socialization also occurs. Teachers may become models in such areas as manners of speech or styles of dress. In addition, peer groups can influence the habits of their members.

The Mass Media The previous forms of socialization involved personal contact. Mass media, however, involves no face-to-face interaction. The mass media are instruments of communication that reach large audiences with no personal contact between those sending the information and those receiving it. The major forms are books, films, Internet, radio, and TV.

Of these, TV probably has the most influence on the socialization of children. Some 98% of the homes in the US have TV’s, with an average of more than 2 sets per home. Most importantly, research shows that most children watch an average of about 28 hours each week. Further, watching TV is the primary after-school activity for 6- to 17-year-olds. Indeed, most children spend almost twice as much time watching TV as they spend in school.

The effect of TV on children is a topic of ongoing debate The effect of TV on children is a topic of ongoing debate. On the negative side, research indicates that by age 18, most children will have witnessed 200,000 fictional acts of violence, including 16,000 murders. Several studies have found a connection between TV violence and aggressive behavior among young people. These studies say that, among other things, because TV violence often appears painless or not harmful, it invites viewers to be less sensitive to the suffering of others.

On the positive side, TV expands the viewers’ world On the positive side, TV expands the viewers’ world. It can be a powerful educational tool. For example, TV brings far-off places into viewers’ homes, makes world events immediate, and introduces viewers to subjects they otherwise might never encounter.

Resocialization The total institution is a rather unique agent of socialization. A total institution is a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and are subject to tight control. Prisons, military boot camps, monasteries, and psychiatric hospitals are examples of total institutions.

Socialization in a total institution differs from the process found in most other settings. Total institutions are primarily concerned with resocializing their members. Resocialization involves a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms. In the case of most total institutions, resocialization is directed toward changing an individual’s personality and social behavior. These modifications are accomplished by stripping away all semblance of individual identity and replacing it with an institutional identity-uniforms, standard haircuts, and so on. The individual is also denied the freedoms of the outside world. Once the person’s sense of self has been weakened, it is easier for those in power to convince that person to conform to new patterns of behavior.